Friday, May 12, 2006

As most of you know in addition to my own consulting practice I work as an analyst for PhoCusWright. I recently completed a GDX article on "Using Mobile Location-Based Services to Enhance the Travel Experience". The article discusses an evolving, more open mobile architecture which can enable travel companies to work more actively with the telecom carriers to deploy travel specific location based services. Here's the Abstract:

As wireless communication becomes ubiquitous, a new opportunity is emerging to deliver highly personalized services to mobile users. One of the most powerful ways to personalize mobile services is to provide applications that are based on location. Since the late1990s, the travel industry has experimented with mobile applications with minimal success. Recent changes in the underlying infrastructure for mobile application delivery is enabling a new way to deploy location-based services(LBS), providing travel companiesthe ability to deploy mobile applications that can be targeted at the leisure and business traveler. By the very nature of travel, early adopters of mobile applications such as LBS are often frequent travelers. Despite this fact, LBS applications that specifically target travelers have been slow to emerge in the market. With rapid adoption of smart phone technologyand the increasing availability of higher speed wireless networks, the ability for travel suppliers and intermediaries to communicate with their frequent customers while on the road has never been greater. The mobile phone has emerged as the primary device for travelercommunication. This Spotlight examines how LBS are created and provides insight into how they will and should impact travel e-commerce.